Happy birthday, America!

I had a great holiday weekend. Annie came down on Thursday to play. I was a bit stressed at staying at work later than I wanted, and not having time to clean the house AND head to the store, but luckily South Florida traffic was on my side and it gave me plenty of time. I made us some taco salad for dinner, and Annie brought peach cobbler (thanks to Paula Dean). It was enjoyable.

After dinner, Annie and I went out to Coconut Grove to meet up with Ali and a couple of her friends. It was great to see her, especially since we hadn't gotten together since school let out and had quite a bit to catch up on. The night was fun, right up until the moment some hideous hose beast of a creature decided it was an awesome idea to blow the smoke from his cigarrette RIGHT IN MY FACE. I'm talking waiting until the moment when my head is even with his toxin filled trap and releasing it. Winner, clearly. Anyway, Ali took this cute picture of us so here it is:

The next day was the 4th and Annie and I went exploring. I took her to see my school, and we went inside La Ermita (I thought, being Catholic, she'd dig) for 2.4 seconds. Then we just walked around The Grove for a bit. I've been there a zillion times but never really just walked around at my leisure. There are some cool little spots down there! Plus, I finally accomplished a goal of mine--I saw The Barnacle! I kept seeing signs for it all over (those brown signs that I love so much!) and only recently discovered that I actually passed by it every day on my way to and from work--only problem was I could never find the parking lot for it. So while Annie and I are in the Grove, we walk past it and decide to head it. They were having a picnic for the 4th (hot dogs, pop corn, activities for kids) and they have tours of the house.

I suppose it would help if I explain what The Barnacle is. It's a Historic State Park that's a part of what's called "Old Florida." The house is over 100 years old and was built by a guy who made his living excavating ships; most of the house is built from timber from the wreck of a ship called the Ingrid, a Danish boat. The wood in the house is dark, beautiful, and sturdy. The house has survived three major hurricanes due to its engineering and craftsmanship. The man who build it even raised it up a floor and the second floor of the house is the original first floor. Pretty sweet as, huh? Sometimes you get your learn on on a holiday. It's fine.

Here's just a little taste of The Barnacle. This is the "bell" outside the front door. You have to hit it with a mallot. This doorbell is from a shipwreck, but not the Ingrid, I don't think.

This is a shot from inside the house. This is the second floor. It was built in an octagonal shape because this makes the roof stronger (three hurricanes, kids). The bannisers' carvings are, apparently, very Danish. I mean, clearly.

This is the view from the front of the house. The front door faces the water because there was no road at the time--people came to visit from the ocean, rather than the land. These were the rails used to bring boats out of the water to clean barnacles off or do repairs.

This is just Annie and me, color coordinated, on the path to the house. Yay friends.

After our adventures at The Barnacle, Annie and I grabbed some lunch at a new place. I wasn't a fan and prefer the other Thai place, but Annie enjoyed the food (her first Thai experience!) so life was okay.

Annie left before it got dark to get home to Pippin, and I had to go help out at church for a minute, but Tiffany and I managed to make it out to Baptist Hospital for fireworks. We sat in the rain for a while because we clearly LOVE America...

But after a while we just sat in the car until the show started. By that time, the rain had (mostly) subsided and the show was nice. I mean, I've seen some of the most amazing fireworks in the world (Washington D.C. July 4th, 2000 comes to mind) but I still love them. There's something magical and nostalgic about the whole thing. I can't fight the magic.

After the fireworks, a few people from church came over for an endless game of Taboo and we called it a night. A good night.

Happy 232 birthday, old gal.

Much love.